Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Saber Hossain Chowdhury yesterday reverted his decision of barring the World Cup pool cricketers from taking part in the Premier Division league, but on a condition.
The change in the earlier decision, which created resentment among most clubs, means that the cricketers' transfer will take place from today as per the original schedule.
The U-turn was made after Tanveer Haider, president, Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolitan (CCDM), and Mahmud Ul Haque Manu, secretary, Senior Division league, met with Saber at his Secretariat office yesterday afternoon. BCB general secretary Syed Ashraful Haque was also present during the meeting.
Saber's condition -- the Premier league will start from the first week of December and end before January 31 to allow the World Cup pool cricketers to take part in the camp from February 1.
``That is the condition on which the board president has allowed the World Cup pool cricketers to take part in the league,'' said Mahmud Ul Haque Manu yesterday.
``The fate of the Damal Smriti tournament, which is traditionally the cricket season's curtain-raiser, will be decided later on,'' Manu added.
The latest decision of the board came as a big relief for the local clubs, who have already invested in high-price contracts with some of the national team cricketers.
Earlier last Monday night, an emergency meeting of the CCDM, held at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, rejected Saber's decision and decided to hold the league with all the national pool cricketers.
The three-day inter-club cricketers' transfer for the 1998-99 season will start at the BCB players' lounge at the Bangabandhu National Stadium from 4 pm today.
For the first two days, the transfer will continue up to 7 pm while on the final day, it will close at 7:30 pm.
Clubs will be able to register a maximum of five cricketers from the 34-member national pool declared by the BCB earlier.
The national pool for the 1998-99 season:
Aminul Islam, Faruque Ahmed, Minhazul Abedin, Akram Khan, Mohammad Rafique, Hasibul Hossain, Manjurul Islam, Morshed Ali Khan, Mehrab Hossain, Azam Iqbal, Al-Shahriar, Naimur Rahman, Zakir Hasan, Sheikh Salauddin, Saiful Islam, Harun-ur Rashid, Zakir Hossain, Jewel Hossain, Sajjad Ahmed, Enamul Haque, Athar Ali Khan, Mofizur Rahman, Hasanuzzaman, Habibul Bashar, Khaled Mahmud, Shafiuddin Ahmed, Shahriar Hossain, Sanwar Hossain, Mushfiqur Rahman, Sumit Rahman, Anisur Rahman, Javed Omar Belim, Sabbir Khan, Tanveer Khan.
Wicketkeepers have been exempted from the pool.